Wolves are reportedly showing interest in Isaiah Jones of Middlesbrough.
According to TEAMtalk, Wanderers have joined West Ham United and Crystal Palace in the hunt for the wing-back.
Jones joined Boro in 2019, after helping Tooting & Mitcham finish sixth in the Isthmian South Central Division.
He has gone on to make 68 appearances for the club, and had built a reputation for himself as being an exciting, attack-minded full-back.
The star has scored four goals for Boro, and also laid on 12 assists, which is a pretty respectable output. He actually finished last season as Boro’s leading assist-maker. That led to him being voted Young Player and Players’ Player of the Year back in May.
Jones recently started playing as a right-sided midfielder, with new manager Michael Carrick believing in his attacking potential.
It has led to interest from Premier League clubs, but Graeme Bailey has reported that Boro are not interested in cashing in on Jones.
He said for TEAMtalk: “No Middlesbrough player has benefited more from Michael Carrick’s appointment than Isaiah Jones.
“Carrick has switched him to right midfield from right back. And I am told that he is impressing a lot of clubs.
“He was already on the radar of the likes of Crystal Palace and West Ham. But now others are keen too including the likes of Wolves, Leicester and Southampton. But they can forget about a January raid.
“Boro’s play-off hopes have been reignited and Carrick is going to be backed. Which means they won’t be selling one of their prized assets.”
At the moment, Boro sit 14th in the Championship table on 27 points. After a poor start under Chris Wilder, some good results lately have brought them to within four points of the play-offs.
Wolves should shelve interest in Isaiah Jones and reconsider a move in the summer
Jones has impressed for Boro and appears to be hot property at the moment.
But Boro are seemingly reluctant to do business as they seek to get into those play-off places. To do that, they need to be keeping their best players.
Wolves might be better off leaving this one and revisiting it in the summer, if Jones is still at the Riverside as expected.
He has just started playing on the wing and so it would be good to see how he develops going forwards.
At this moment in time, Wolves don’t really need wingers. Especially ones that are not so experienced.
That said, perhaps Julen Lopetegui would see him as someone who could challenge Nelson Semedo and Jonny at right-back, with both players having been poor this term.
But Boro’s stance is what it is, and Wolves should probably wait.